Infections at Otero Prison changes virus outlook for New Mexico; state epidemiologist departs

SANTA FE, New Mexico -- A spike in statewide infections over the past week tied to an outbreak at prison facilities in Otero County has changed the outlook for New Mexico and efforts to safely reopen the economy.

New Mexico has now received an overall “trending poorly” grade on a website frequently cited by state officials that tracks progress on infection rates, testing and hospital capacity and how states measures up against White House criteria for safely reopening the economy.

The downward grade came as state health leaders on Tuesday reported 47 additional virus cases in New Mexico, including two at the troubled Otero County Prison facility which holds state and federal inmates. Ironically, it was the lowest number of single day cases reported by the state since April 19.

But the prison now has a staggering 495 cumulative virus cases involving inmates housed there, including two deaths, while the adjacent ICE Otero County Processing Center has a total of 92 cases involving its detainees.

Statewide, the caseload on Tuesday reached 9,105 with four new deaths to take the fatality count to 404. Southern New Mexico's Dona Ana County had just two new cases for 589 to date, while neighboring Otero County had one new case among its residents (separate from the prison population) for 28 total. Only a few deaths have occurred in either county.

Amid the pandemic as New Mexico seeks to reopen the economy, the lead specialist for tracking and combating infectious disease is also leaving the state Health Department.

Michael Landen is retiring as state epidemiologist to be closer to relatives in Virginia, where his parents live, said Health Department spokesman David Morgan.

Landen was appointed in 2012 under Republican Gov. Susana Martinez and was a leading figure in the state’s response to the opioid epidemic before Covid-19 had arrived in March.

Deputy Epidemiologist Chad Smelser will lead the epidemiology and response division, while a nationwide search takes place for Landen’s successor, Health Secretary Kathy Kunkel announced Tuesday. Smelser accompanied Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham at news conferences in the early stages of the pandemic.

New Mexico aggressively pursued public health restrictions at the outset of the epidemic and this month allowed dine-in restaurants, shopping malls, gyms and hair salons to reopen at limited capacity.

Below you can see county-by-county data for virus cases and deaths across New Mexico. The data comes from Johns Hopkins University, so the numbers may sometimes vary a bit from what's reported by the state health department.